The present invention relates to a document producing support system. More in particular, the present invention relates to a system to support users in the process of producing documents, in particular creating, maintaining, and publishing documents, the system comprising:
input means for receiving manual input from a user;
display means;
a logon/logoff module connected to said user profile database for identifying roles of users based on said user profiles;
language technology modules for language control, machine-aided translation and language task support;
a processor coupled to and arranged for controlling the input means, the display means, the logon/logoff module, and the language technology modules. The Prior Art provides examples of such a system.
European patent application EP 0 697 666 discloses a document production system in which centrally stored language data are transferred to remote users when required by the respective user. The language data comprise language programs, dictionaries and databases. The user systems comprise data input and data output means, connected to a processor. Access to the central storage is controlled using a list to authorized users.
The system disclosed in European patent application EP 0 697 666 has the disadvantage that the resulting documents do not have a clear linguistic structure and that inconsistent use of language among documents may occur. Moreover, the efficiency of the document production process is relatively poor, and documents may not be reusable.
International patent application WO 94/18620 discloses a system for managing business processes in which a workflow server provides transaction services relating to the workflows, which transaction services comprise: the notification of the user that he or she has a step to begin or to complete, using a names/routings database, providing the user with the proper tools to complete a task, providing the user with the proper information to complete a task, allowing the user to see where a task fits in the overall process, managing the proper reminders, alerts, and follow-ups to keep the process moving, automating certain standard procedures, integrating with the organization""s existing business systems, and providing simple application program interfaces that allow developers to develop custom applications that are workflow enabled.
The system disclosed by International patent application WO 94/18620 manages task workflows in general, in particular the timing and directing of tasks, but does not mention how to support the user in performing language-intensive tasks depending on his role.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an integrated software architecture for supporting language-intensive business processes involving extensive document production, wherein the linguistic structure of the text, their reusability in a variety of documents and their terminological consistency are dynamically enhanced during usage of the system by end-users in such a way that improvements of economy (speed of processing) and quality are attained.
For meeting these and other objects, a system as defined in the preamble is according to the present invention characterized by:
a user profile database storing user profiles;
a workflow module arranged for at least controlling which roles of users are entitled to carry out specific activities and which activities may be carried out at a specific moment, as well as tracking which activities have already been carried out and how much process time has already been spent within any of the activities, activities being defined as sets of tasks allowed to be carried out by any individual user depending on his role;
a dossier database for storing drafts of documents, and a publishing database for storing final versions of documents;
a semantic database storing semantic elements, i.e., data items with pre-defined contents and meanings, the processor being coupled to and arranged for controlling said workflow module, said dossier database, said publishing database, and said semantic database.
Due to the above-mentioned measures, the integrated software architecture for supporting language-intensive business processes defined by Claim 1 structures these language-intensive processes in such a way that end-users are enabled, at any given point of time, to work only on those specific activities which are relevant to them and which are logically possible according to a generic description of the process-type. Here, activities are defined as sets of tasks associated with predetermined roles of users. An end-user may, e.g., be a manager, a technical writer, a translator, a claim-handler, a physician, etc. The end-user can only carry out those activities belonging to his or her role.
The integrated software architecture for supporting language-intensive business processes further breaks down the language-intensive activities into language tasks and supports each of these with a variety of software applications, whereby the end-user is enabled to produce texts in such a way that the content is highly structured, the resulting text is highly re-usable, the terminology and extra-textural references consistent and that the style is adapted to the potential target group of the text.
The integrated software architecture for supporting language-intensive business processes is customizable in such a way that the process structure implemented for a particular client reflects both the generic process-type and the specific process organization preferred by the client.
When using the integrated software architecture for supporting language-intensive business processes the end user is enabled by the software to build up a stock of computer files containing process-specific terminology, texts and text-components, extra-textual references and paralinguistic objects (i.e. drawings, images, audio-visuals) which can be used to generate an increasing variety of document-types and document-instances. Special embodiments of the present invention are defined in the subclaims.
Below, the invention will be illustrated in detail with reference to some drawings, which are intended to illustrate the present invention and not to limit its scope.